CULTURAL CHANGES

I am supremely confident that a full-fledged cultural invasion is happening all over the world: a cultural invasion of the oriental ideas over the occidental lifestyle and vice versa. People struggle hard to preserve things dear to them, to preserve the individual and group identities. New groups and newer identities are being formed, at the expense of traditional values.

For instance, Indian influence is being felt heavily on South Africa- with cricket, bollywood and business holding sway on the daily way of life. The results is that, Indian habits and customs (good or bad) is being adopted by South Africans more than ever before- and it is spreading rapidly. Same can be said of the growing influence of Chinese in the Americas; or the adoption of western culture in some conservative middle eastern and other Muslim countries. Electronic and print media play a very important role in moulding our thoughts in a particular direction.

The British ruled almost every part of the world for a long period of time- their brand of imperialism involved "divide and rule", trade, warfare, slavery and other tactics upon the natives of various countries. Right now, the western countries may be at the receiving end of a "cultural imperialism" of sorts- where foreign culture and ideas are increasingly being felt in day to day life. We now have bhangra music in western night clubs; Chinese food is available everywhere; African tribal music is greatly sought after; bollywood is taking over all of Africa, Asia and elsewhere; "freedom of expression" is being greatly used (and misused) in Asian countries; occidental fashion is creeping into oriental lifestyle; more mixed races are being formed...

So what is the offshoot of all this? Some of the terms which we use today, such as "Canadians", "British food", "Asian cities", etc. will be so homogeneous that it would encompass a wide spectrum of elements, that it becomes sensible to group all of them together. The identity would be lost, or rather- newer identities are formed to replace the former ones. And the results are visible much sooner than one would expect.

Take India for example. Hundred years back, India was reeling under the might of sustained and continuous invasions by several foreign rulers. The humility of oppression, a feeling of helplessness and extreme poverty are now replaced by burgeoning confidence, growth, and power. This was achieved by a strew of cultural changes in India's outlook. The dresses, eating habits, thought process, priorities, likes/dislikes, etc. were all changed. Yet, there is an underlying identity which has been preserved by the Indians- that "identity" has been changing constantly all the time, but at the same time creating another identity which unites the moods of the time.

So what's my point?

I am just trying to say that in spite of our best efforts, change is the only certain thing in life- it has been going on since time immemorial, and constant change has brought about history as we know it. Even from a spiritual and mythological standpoint, the change in cultures and habit has been the cornerstone in our scriptures. People have trouble letting go- be it in society, or any mental state within our self. If we can collectively realize the futility of trying to preserve- the world would be a much better place. We often hear old people say "in my days, it was like this... it was like that, things were so different and better..." When our grandparents lived during the British era, their fathers and grandfathers would have said tales about how during their times they travelled in horses and chariots! The whole issue of "generation gap" is because of the cultural changes that have taken place over the years.

We should accept the cultural changes the environment heaps upon us and progress on. What we identify ourselves with today will not be valid a few years down the line- and that has always been the case. The sooner we realize this, the more peaceful we become.